The Price of Early Seattle Speculation
A series of 1878 sheriff's sales reveals the precarious nature of land ownership during Seattle's early frontier development.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
By virtue of an execution issued out of the District Court of the Third Judicial District of Washington Territory, holding terms at Seattle, in King County, on the 21st day of March, A.D. 1878, in the case where Dexter Horton and Arthur A. Denny are plaintiffs, and Thomas J. Jackson, Eliza Jackson, William Bunton, James Scott and Andrew Moore are defendants, I am commanded to take into execution the personal property of the said defendants, and if sufficient personal property cannot be found, then the real property of said defendants, to satisfy a judgment for the sum of eight hundred and ninety-six and sixty-one hundredths dollars in silver coin. Now, therefore, no personal property being found, by virtue of said execution, I have levied upon the following described real property: all of lots two and three in block numbered twenty-four in that part of the City of Seattle laid out and platted by A. A. Denny, and known as A. A. Denny's Addition to Seattle. I will sell at the courthouse door in Seattle, at public auction, to the highest bidder, for cash in silver coin, all the right, title, interest and equity of redemption of said defendants in the above described property.
“I will sell at public auction, to the highest bidder, for cash in silver coin, all the right, title, interest and equity of redemption of said defendants.”
Today, the A. A. Denny Addition is one of the most valuable swaths of real estate in Seattle. This 1878 legal notice serves as a grim reminder that early property ownership was a volatile venture, where debts could quickly lead to the loss of one's claim to the city's future.
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